June 9—SAYBROOK — Months of hard work and organizing came to an end Friday evening as nationally known environmental attorney Doug Tallamy spoke to an estimated 400 people at Lakeside High School.
A joint effort between the Ashtabula County Master Gardeners and the Northeast Ohio Pollinator Society led to the large crowd after months of discussing a book by Tallamy, which detailed the importance of landscaping in helping save nature.
The two organizations partnered with the Robert S. Morrison Foundation and the Ashtabula Foundation to fund the event. Early this year, representatives from the ACMG and NPS visited area libraries and challenged people to read “Bringing Nature Home.”
The Friday evening lecture was free to Ashtabula County residents.
“This is our last chance,” Tallamy said of the need to create more habitat for wildlife on private land, creating the conditions necessary for human life.
Tallamy told the audience how important it is to save ecosystems and the planet. He said humans have overused natural resources, leading to the extinction of many insects, animals and plants.
“Nature is in trouble because we didn’t listen to Teddy Roosevelt,” he said of the former president who worked hard to protect nature. Tallamy said five percent of nature remains untouched.
“We can save our insects…but we’re going to have to change the way we create landscaping,” Tallamy said.
“We need to renew all parts of the habitats, but for now let’s focus on important species,” he said.
Tallamy said caterpillars are an essential part of healthy ecosystems, and creating food for the creatures is an important first step. He said huge quantities of caterpillars are needed to feed birds.
“We add caterpillars by adding plants,” he said. Many insects have selective diets and the plants they eat should be planted in private landscapes, he said.
Tallamy talked about his more than twenty-year adventure in adding plants to the land surrounding his home in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He said that to draw Canada Owlet moths, he had to plant a specific plant that the moths feast on.
He went on to detail the many types of small decisions, involving plants, that create ecosystems that help pollinators and provide ways for nature to recover.
